The following guest post was written by Joanne Adam, a certified pharmacy technician. We are grateful to Joanne for sharing her story and helping others to understand how important the role of pharmacy technician has become, especially in our nation’s hospitals. When I first started out as a pharmacy technician, people would ask me, [...][Continue Reading...]

There have been so many improvements in the outpatient infusion market in recent years. The good news is that patients can now achieve a higher quality of life even when they are afflicted with a lifetime chronic condition through treatments utilizing periodic injections or infusions. If you place yourself in any patient’s shoes, what would [...][Continue Reading...]

As with any occupation, there’s a lot to know in order to become a competent and proficient professional. Healthcare is no different. Based on your specific discipline, be it pharmacy, nursing, or physician, there are skills and tasks that are essential to the successful completion of your responsibilities. For infusion center clinicians, the most essential [...][Continue Reading...]

We’ve all seen this; a healthcare worker in a white coat, pockets stuffed with papers. In hand, they have a notebook, handheld calculator, and a variety of dog-eared papers. Early in my career, I decided to take a clinical supervisory position after serving 15+ years as a traveling executive for a healthcare company. Though I [...][Continue Reading...]

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” B. Franklin On April 9, 2019 my colleagues and I from the Pennsylvania Society of Health System Pharmacists (PSHP) will be attending a meeting with Pennsylvania State Representative Tony DeLuca. Representative DeLuca, along with 12 other co-sponsors, have sponsored House Bill 770 into the General [...][Continue Reading...]

If you have ever had a prescription filled in a pharmacy, received an IV infusion in a hospital, or received a medication in a nursing home, you have received services from a pharmacy technician. Who are these people? How are they trained? The answer to these questions is both complex and inconsistent but can be [...][Continue Reading...]

The following post was written by Chris Jerry of the Emily Jerry Foundation. Chris tragically lost his daughter as a result of a preventable medical error made by a pharmacy technician. We are grateful to Chris for his courage in sharing his story as well as for the work he is doing to bring light [...][Continue Reading...]

In recent years there has been a plethora of new infusion and injection therapies flooding the healthcare market. These new therapies are giving patients with chronic illnesses a broader range of treatment options and providing them the opportunity to live their lives with fewer debilitating chronic symptoms. As an Infusion Center Nurse Manager, with over [...][Continue Reading...]

RxTOOLKIT® is pleased to announce its support of the Patient Safety Movement Foundation (PSMF) and its mission to eliminate preventable deaths by 2020 (0X2020™). The Patient Safety Movement Foundation believes that reaching ZERO preventable deaths in hospitals by 2020 is not only the right goal, but also an attainable one with the right people, ideas, [...][Continue Reading...]

My essential core motivation comes from both an intense passion to improve the pharmacy profession and a deliberate intention to make the patients it serves safer. I believe strongly that true patient safety in medication preparation and administration must include a well‐designed process incorporating innovative and affordable technology utilized by competent staff. I also believe [...][Continue Reading...]

Packaging and labeling are believed to be the cause of 33% of medication errors1 and poor label design is cited as a potential cause.2 In 2016, the FDA released guidelines for safe labeling and repackaging acknowledging that improper repackaging of drug products can cause serious adverse events stating, “Because labeling, packaging, and nomenclature have been [...][Continue Reading...]

I recently had a chance to read the article Pharmacy-Led Monitoring of Oral Chemotherapy by Jay M. Patel, PharmD and Christopher Niemann, PharmD in November’s issue of Pharmacy Purchasing & Products. If you have the time, check it out. This article brings up a number of important issues about the pharmacist role, oral chemotherapy, and [...][Continue Reading...]

I recently had a chance to read the article The Overdose: Harm in a Wired Hospital. If you have the time, it’s worth reading. This article brings up a number of important issues. I wanted to share my thoughts about those issues and the evolution of technology and human interaction in pharmacy. As technology evolves, [...][Continue Reading...]

A big thanks goes out to Jerry Fahrni for giving us permission to reprint his post. We couldn’t agree with him more. In fact, many of the points he brings up are actually issues we have already solved with RxTOOLKIT® applications: RxCONNECT™ our secure HIPAA compliant internal communications tool also used to monitor and document [...][Continue Reading...]

This post was updated on 02–06–19 The profession of pharmacy has certainly evolved in the years since my graduation and licensure. Significant improvements to patient care and an increase in quality outcomes are evident to any long-term observer of the profession. But this progress has revealed a major vulnerability. My goals are to bring this [...][Continue Reading...]

RxTOOLKIT® and medsafetyonline.org support PA House Bill 854! Pennsylvania House Bill 854 would require Pharmacy Techs to register with the Pennsylvania State Board of Pharmacy and submit to a criminal history background check. In addition, a grandfathering provision is included in which currently practicing Pharmacy Techs must be at least seventeen years of age, have [...][Continue Reading...]

(Click image to view full size) Share this Infographic On Your Site RxTOOLKIT encourages you to share this infographic but you must include attribution. To embed the graphic, please copy and paste the code below: <p><strong>Please include attribution to RxTOOLKIT.com with this graphic.</strong></p><br /> <p><a href='http://www.medsafetyonline.org/preventable-medical-errors/'><img src='http://www.medsafetyonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/RxTOOLKIT_infographic_lg_F1-e1426872086229.jpg' alt='Preventable Medication Errors by the Numbers – Infographic [...][Continue Reading...]

This post was updated on 02–06-19 I am a Pharmacist, entrepreneur, and founder of several websites: RxTOOLKIT.com, RxTOOLKITLabels.com, and RxTOOLKITeLEARNING.com These sites, applications, and ultimately my life’s work, have principally focused on reducing preventable mediation errors. Our product development has always centered on technology, automation, and the advancement of tools. These tools assist in clinical [...][Continue Reading...]

Background Ever since my very first day on the job as a hospital pharmacist, I have placed a “C” using a blue Sharpie on every single label that I have ever checked. While the “C” stands for Chuck, there’s no good explanation as to why this seemingly insignificant little marker chose me. I guess the [...][Continue Reading...]